My bank holiday paper cutting cats

This bank holiday weekend has been all about crafting for my Mum and I. Mum's been busy working on a quilted cushion cover while I've been designing and cutting a paper cut commission.

This is a special paper cut for my blogger friend Suzy from Ike's World. A little birdy tells me she's offering 50% off digital stamps in her shop until 10 May so do pop on by!

The only specification for the paper cut is that it had to involve cats, so I tried to get as many into the 15cm x 15cm square as possible.

I'm a little bit nervous showing you this as it's the first time Suzy will have seen it too! Here goes...

A few close-ups too.

We used to have a cat named Molly, so I was thinking about all the poses she used to do to make sure I covered as many as possible!

I got a little mouse, a couple of butterflies and birds, and a few fish bones in there too!

The balls of string were quite tricky, but when paper cutting, you need to make sure that everything is held together somehow, so trails of string seemed perfect.

Suzy, I hope you like it!

The other thing I've been working on this weekend is an exciting project for a guest post for the lovely  Hope and Chances Creativity. Here's a sneaky peek of what's to come, I hope to be able to reveal all very soon!

As you can see, I'm going through a hot pink backing paper phase!

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I'm sharing today's post on the following blogs: Handmade Harbour, Lamb Around and Manon Popje's Illustrations.

The finished papercut heart

It's been a beautiful day here in Devon, the sun's been shining and we've been out for a lovely meal at the Clavelshay Barn near Taunton. If you're ever in the area, you really must visit; it's in a pretty spot by the river and the food is delicious!

Last week I finished a papercut heart for my Auntie. Here's how it started life...

 ...and here it is finished, many hours later!

I'm not sure what colour my Auntie will choose for the background, but I've shown it here on red for Valentine's day.

My Auntie requested that it feature lady birds, hearts, butterflies and the word love; can you spot them all?

Here are a few close ups to help.

The heart is in the middle of an A4 piece of thin card. It's almost as high as the card is wide.

I've now got another commission for a wedding present which I'm really excited about! It'll feature the bride and groom's names, their wedding date and a couple of little things representing their hobbies hidden in amongst the flowers.

I'll leave you with these photos of Westward Ho! taken yesterday and this evening. I love the vibrant green of the grassy tussocks against the sky.

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Today I'm sharing this post on the following blogs: Handmade Harbour, Manonpopje's Illustrations, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Papercut heart with flowers - giveaway time!

I'm getting a little bit addicted to these papercuts. They're so satisfying to do and I love how the bright background colour transforms them when they're finished. The fact that they're hearts makes them the perfect Valentine's day craft project too!

Seeing as I can't seem to stop doing them I've decided to give one away! If you'd like to win this little papercut heart, head over to my Facebook page for details on how to enter.

This is another flowery heart I cut this week. If you'd like to get your mitts on it, it's for sale for £25 + p&p. Pop by my Facebook page and drop me a message if you'd like to buy it :)

Now, remember those fabric scraps from my Auntie that I told you about last week? Well, I had a go at crazy quilting. I was unprepared for how much brain power it takes to sew the pieces down in order! It's like some sort of complicated mathematical equation!

Here's how it turned out. I would have liked the outer pieces to have been shorter and fatter, but for some reason I kept needing to add longer bits to cover up the previous pieces' edges. If anyone has any tips on how to prevent this I'd be very grateful.

Nevertheless, I like how it turned out. I think it looks like sea (on the left), hills (on the right) and a fiery red sunset sky. Though that could be just my imagination!

I'm going to carry on and do a bit of embroidery over the top to give it some more interest. Then it will have pride of place on the wall!

Speaking of seaside views, Sam and I went to Clovelly yesterday. The weather was a little temperamental but a shower of rain was a good excuse for a hot chocolate in the pub!

Don't they look like little, painted model houses!

The last creative thing I did this weekend was bake a cake! It's certainly not the prettiest looking thing, but it does taste good! We've almost demolished the whole lot between us and the little that's left I'm sure we'll finish off with a cup of tea tonight!

I bought the sprinkles on offer after Christmas! Always looking out for a good bargain, me!

And on that scrummy note, that's it for another week! Don't forget, if you'd like to win my handmade papercut heart, head over to my Facebook page to enter my giveaway.

Today I'm linking up to the following link up parties: Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello and Lamb Around.